WASHINGTON — The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has announced a proposed rule to reduce annual Unified Carrier Registration fees for commercial motor carriers.
The reductions, spelled out in a Federal Register notice last month, would total 9.1 percent in 2018. They would rise slightly in 2019 but would still be 4.55 percent below current levels.
In dollars, the reductions would range from $7 to $6,749 below the current fees per operator next year and from $3 to $3,375 in 2019, based on the number of vehicles in an operator’s fleet.
The more vehicles a company operates, the higher the reduction would be.
Here are the proposed fees compared with the current amounts:
- Fees for two or fewer motorcoaches, currently $76 a year, would be $69 in 2018 and $73 in 2019.
- Fees for three to five vehicles, currently $227, would be $206 in 2018 and to $217 in 2019.
- Fees for six to 20 vehicles, currently $452, would be $410 in 2018 and $431 in 2019.
- Fees for 21 to 100 vehicles, currently $1,576, would be $1,431 in 2018 and $1,503 in 2019.
- Fees for 101 to 1,000 vehicles, currently $7,511, would be $6,820 in 2018 and $7,165 in 2019.
- Fees for 1,001 or more vehicles, currently $73,346, would be $66,597 in 2018 and $69,971 in 2019.
UCR is a federally mandated, state-administered program for registering and collecting fees from operators of commercial vehicles engaged in interstate travel. It requires motor carriers, motor private carriers, freight forwarders, leasing companies and brokers based in the United States, Canada and Mexico to pay fees through their base states on behalf of all participating states.
Federal regulations require FMCSA to reduce the fees for all motor carriers if the total fees in the previous year exceed the amount necessary to satisfy the revenue entitlements of the participating states and the UCR plan’s administrative costs.
The Unified Carrier Registration Plan board recommended the reduction to the Department of Transportation in March after total revenues collected in 2016 exceeded the entitlements of $107.78 million distributed to the 41 participating states, plus $5 million established for administrative costs to operate the plan.
FMCSA accepted public comments on the proposed reduction through Oct. 1 and could change the rule based on those comments.
“FMCSA may issue a final rule at any time after the close of the comment period,” the agency said.
